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Yesterday’s ‘daft-ish’ ride started up in Newcastleton, just north of the England/Scotland border and just north of Kielder. There are two big races this year in that part of the world – the UK 24 Hour Championship and the Kielder 100. We thought both of them would need some reconnaissance so decided on a route that included plenty of good bits of both.

After collecting Dave we drove north on the near-deserted Sunday morning motorway and were soon in the Scottish borders. Starting at the car park of the Newcastleton ‘7 Stanes’ trailhead, we planned to ride a lap and a bit of the red route and then join the cross-border trail to take us to Kielder – a lap of the big route over there, back again then repeat the whole thing again, giving us a 8 or so hours in the saddle and around 80 miles on the clock. That was the plan, the reality was a bit different.

The Newcastleton red is a typical Scottish trail centre – in other words, massively enjoyable, very physical if you want to ride it fast and smooth, lots of berms and rocky bits and plenty of trees, ditches and streams to crash/fall into if your concentration wanders for a second. Ace for a lap or three, however 24 hours of this will definately be a big challenge needing more than just aerobic fitness and a stubborn head…

Once on the cross-border trail things calmed down a bit and we were able to take in the view and increase the average speed. Running parallel with the border for a few miles we eventually crossed a small wooden bridge marked at either end by ‘Welcome to England’ and ‘Welcome to Scotland’ signs. Up until now, we’d encountered some small patches of ice but nothing much, however as soon as we crossed over into England we were soon off our bikes and pushing through deep snow. No worries, it’ll just be this bit here and it’ll all be rideable around the corner.

Short sections of rideable trail were broken up by seemingly massive unrideable sections covered in knee-deep snow. The next 3 or so hours were spent slogging our way around deserted snow-bound forests on foot or plummetting down steep ice-covered man-made trails that invariavly ended with more knee-deep snow.

This was not going to plan. Not only that, but it had started to snow again, hard. In almost white-out conditions we both nervously rode along the long timber sections of trails until even they became unrideable, lost under a foot-deep blanket of snow.

Much later, legs sore from the unexpected snow-hiking in carbon-soled cycling shoes and very much behind schedule, we arrived back in Scotland and opted to rejoin the Newcastleton red trail as quickly as possible, ride back to the car park and then ride another lap of it. This ended our day in the way it had begun, a total contrast to the middle bit. We’d lost so much time earlier that our plan to turn around and repeat the entire ride was out of the question but at least we’d managed to ride a fair distance and learn a lot about the upcoming races up here. No disaster – in fact I’m really looking forward to UK24 now.

Some awesome camera and editing work on show here. It’s obvious that a lot of time and effort has gone into these. Thanks guys!

Will’s latest masterpiece;

A couple of videos with some lush stills from Lorne;

‘I’d give you a slap if I could breathe’, said a cyclist of previous good character. ‘You’re an evil little sod’ said another. I was starting to think that my marshal point at the top of the horrible, unrideable and steep climb wasn’t ideal given I knew a fair few of the people racing at this year’s Hit the North winter race and they knew that I was responsible for sending them up the steepest part of a hill at the far end of a flat but extremely rutted and bumpy field. Time to move on before one of them saves enough puff to snot me one…maybe a different marshal point would be sensible, one located after one of the many fun and swoopy sections.

We weren’t as lucky with the conditions this time as we were last February (when the ground was frozen almost solid) – there had been some rain and snow in the last few days and whilst the sun was almost shining today the course was soft and quite muddy in places. Undeterred, almost 200 racers lined up at the start; a good mix again of fast and not-so fast riders on mountain bikes and cyclocross bikes. A failure of the musical airhorns forced some urgent stabbing of the siren function on the PA and they were off, the first lap heading up the tarmac road to the first section of singletrack.

From my position at the first vantage point I saw very few surprises – the pack was being led by cyclocross bikes and I saw pretty much who I expected to see at the front. Subsequent laps, following the tarmac climb to spread people out, would then go across the field and up the steep hill of doom I mentioned earlier.

Lap after lap of the 3km course were completed over the next 2 hours, plenty of grimacing, plenty of crashes (especially at the near-legendary drop into Mere Clough) and a mint ball for all finishers.

Basically I’ll let the folk that raced tell their story as mine as an organiser is quite dull in comparison – bottom line is though is that our heads are full of ideas – some of those ideas may even happen but we’ll continue to organise quality races that are at the moment quite unique, we’ll work on the bits that need to be worked on and we’ll carry on raising cash for worthy causes in the process. Perhaps one day I’ll have the chance to race at Hit the North myself…!

My own personal thanks go out to everyone who raced, those who have told us afterwards how ace it was (that means a lot), the lovely people who gave up their Saturday to marshal and everyone else who has contributed in big and small ways to make sure this was another HTN success. You know who you are, etc.

See you at the next one…

Quality words and pictures from some of those who took part, took pics or helped us out…

Twinklydave

Ragley Mike

Alan ‘Crossjunkie’ Dorrington

Greg May

British Cycling

Super Brian

Richpips – official snapper

Today’s road ride in the Peak definately had a whiff of spring about it. Yeh yeh I’m tempting fate here and I know it’s far too early for daffodils and lambs boinging all over the place and it is probably going to snow again next week….but while this lasts I’m going to leave the jacket, winter gloves and under-the-helmet windproof skullcap at home and bloody well enjoy it. Lovely.

After a slightly-longer-than-it-should-have-been (but very enjoyable and no without doubt physically beneficial all the same) rest following the Strathpuffer, this week has been ‘pull your finger out week’ where I’ve planned as best I can the training between now and the big races in the summer and actually got on with doing some training.

The first big one is the UK 24 Hour Solo Championship in May. A 24 hour race for soloists only, the start list is starting to look like a who’s who of UK 24 hour racing and the course should be pretty exciting/good/eek! This one is so big I think Dave’s even giving up pastry products for the next few months.

Here we go again then…..

Carl Hutchings at In2Dust has kindly supplied me with what looks like at least a year’s supply of Squirt Lube. I’ve got a bottle of wax lube in the cellar that I used once many years ago, thought it wasn’t very good so haven’t used it since. Squirt is also a wax lube, but this stuff is different. It really works brilliantly, even in wet and muddy conditions and stays put for a long long time indeed. Perfect for long rides and long hard races. Try it if you don’t believe me – either ask me for a bit or ask them for a sample.

Despite being uncharacteristically organised in the days leading up to the Strathpuffer, an hour before the start I was anything but. For some reason in the previous few hours I was more tense than I’d ever been before the start of a race, which was a shame for the two guys I was sharing a camper van with really. No idea why, but the bottom line was I wasn’t looking forward to the next 24 hours or so at all.

I’d trained hard, I’d spent the last week relatively stress-free and I’d rested well, I’d prepared for riding in the worst the winter weather could throw at me by training in the worst the winter weather could throw at me and my experiences of ‘serious’ 24 hour racing in the past has taught me a lot about what works and what doesn’t. Despite all this, I was feeling like a first-timer. Perhaps the fact that the snowy and icy conditions on the course had been discussed at length on internet forums for the last few days was adding to the usual trepidation, or maybe it was the fact that the original plan of me being supported during the race as usual by Debbie went out of the window last week, or perhaps it was the fact that I couldn’t find a sodding thing in the back of the van when I was trying to get changed with 20 minutes to go….it certainly wasn’t the 17 hours of darkness putting me off – I do about 90% of my training in the dark after all…

I was going to have to start the race and immediately start having words with myself otherwise I’d not even finish if I stayed in this frame of mind.
Following a quick natter with Dave and Phil as we waited for  the start, we all commenced the customary run to the start line proper where Budge was waiting with my bike. Budge and Phil were racing as a pair with Phil heading out first. Off up the fireroad climb, passing as many other riders as possible before the singletrack. This first lap was perhaps the hardest – large sections of trail were unrideable due to deep snow and/or fallen riders. I was on the Scandal for this lap, purely because it had the ice tyres fitted – I was pretty sure that there wasn’t going to be too much ice on the course, not enough to need studded tyres anyway, but I was adopting a cautious approach until after the first lap.

Not much ice really, back to the van, sling the number on the Ragley and off I went. This was much better. I was reminded how much faster I was on this bike, helped by the fatter tyres and lighter wheels, but the longer, lower stance of the frame and fork was allowing me to hammer up the first climb much more quickly. Still struggling to get into it all the same.

As each lap came and went. the deep snow disappeared, the entire course became rideable and patches of ice appeared here and there, exposed by the brushing away of the recent blanket of snow by hundreds of tyres and cycling shoes. Every lap the course seemed different in some way – deep snow gave way to hardened mud,  large rock slabs lost their layers of slush and ice then later on in the small hours of the morning they became icy again and muddy quagmires in the forest hardened, then softened, then hardened again.

Well over halfway through the race, I started to feel much more positive. Learning from the lads back at the van that I was in 3rd place helped, as did the fact that I was still feeling physically strong. Keep churning out the laps and maintain this to the end. Dave was running in second place and was at least a lap and a half in front, so very unlikely that I’d catch him anyway. Third will be ace. Happy with third. You’re doing really well. Why am I surprised? Do more laps. Keep doing laps. Don’t slow down. Cheer up lad. 

This is getting easier. I’m not grumpy any more. In fact I’m feeling pretty bloody aweso–WHAM. The previously-grippy fireroad near the start of the course went downhill a bit, allowing a bit of freewheeling, a gel out of the back pocket and a drink…until about 4am when, following a brief shower of rain, it turned into a lethal sheet of ice. I slid along the ground for 30 or so feet, the bike sliding much further than that. Picking myself up off the ground and checking my backside wasn’t now hanging out of a hole in my tights, I carried on and ignored the pain in my upper thigh, elbow and wrist. Be careful. Don’t break something important now.

Meanwhile, Budge and Phil were having their own battles. Both had ridden into third place in the pairs and were defending their position from the 4th placed team, only around 8 minutes behind. This had been going on since 4 hours into the race. Eventually with only 90 or so minutes of the race to go, they were caught and overtaken, bumping them down into 4th place. Unlucky but an awesome effort to soak up the pressure for so long and remain smooth and consistent.

The sun came up and I started to pootle. I even looked at the scenery once or twice. I’d never been this far north before so I was going to have a good look before I went home and I’m very glad I did.

I finished in 3rd place. Dave in 2nd, Alex Slaven only a few minutes in front of him in 1st place. At the time I quietly vowed never to do this one again…however on reflection I probably will

The original plan involving Debbie and the girls travelling up to the Strathpuffer with me and us taking the caravan has been abandoned due to the probable state of the roads next week and the crazy low temperatures. Oh, and the fact that I don’t think I could get the caravan off the drive anyway at the moment.

So…I’m relying on others for support during the race – Budge and Phil are racing as a pair so they’ll be able to help out plus I’m going to doss in their campervan the night before the race…

…if the race goes ahead that is. Decision time fo the organisers is on Monday. It’s an extreme race anyway, so I reckon it will go ahead as planned but we shall see. I’m spending this weekend preparing and doing some last minute training anyway.

Yesterday’s final big ride before the ‘puffer was a slightly extended regular offroad loop that would normally take me three and a half hours. Due to the snow drifts on the moors it took me more like 5. It was great fun though (in a painful kind of way) – really deep snow is pretty much unrideable but the harder packed stuff is utterly brilliant on 2.4″ wide tyres at low pressure.

It’s fun at first, even for a few days, but this snow is starting to get oooolllld now. There’s more forecast for this week too, just when I need to have one more big week before tapering for the Strathpuffer (which incidentally is under a good foot of snow and is basking in temperatures of minus 15 currently). At least I’ve got some really good ice tyres on the 29er ready for it.

For some reason I thought I’d probably not need ice tyres at the Todmorden cyclocross race today. I figured that any unrideable sectons would be re-routed; after all, how many people actually own a pair of ice tyres in the UK? I took them anyway, hidden in the boot of the car. When I arrived I had a look at the vets race that was going on, nobody seemed to be struggling with the ice. Chipps told me that the dreaded cobbles were not included in today’s racing on the orders of Brithish Cycling…so I left the standard rubber in place. I would need studded tyres today.

I shouldn’t have needed them anyway. What I didn’t know was that I was about to SUCK more than I’ve EVER sucked in a race, EVER. Lap one – crash. Smashed my elbow into the ground. Excellent. Crash again, this time, make sure there are at least 10 specators. In fact, make them people that you know. Get overtaken a few times. Gingerly negotiate the ice covered course, zero traction going up, out of control coming down. I was ace on the flat bits in that I wasn’t being overtaken. I was crashing on every lap. Like I said, I sucked.

After 6 or 7 laps like this my luck was probably running out and so thoughts turned to the race in 2 weeks; the effort, expense and time I’ve poured into it and the fact that an injury today would be a disaster. As a result of my total loss of confidence I started to self-preserve,  got slower, got overtaken a bit more then sacked it off. Pants. Great race though; well organised and held together under the circumstances. Chipps and friends did good again.

I joined Phil and Dave afterwards for the ride back home (and Ibuprofen) – the summit of the Bacup Road climb providing a slightly surreal pink snow photo opportunity…

After the disappointing performance of the Schwalbe ice tyres (that were sent back for being crap), I was hoping that the Continental Nordic Spike tyres would be much better, or at least not fall apart, roll off the rim or be so bent that it actually afffected the handling of the bike. I’m happy to say that they’re great.

A bit wider, a bit knobblier (and therefore better in loose/muddy conditions), plenty of metal studs so that I can steer and even brake on ice and basically much better made than the Schwalbes.

Testing them this afternoon involved riding as much scary ice as possible including one or two downhills where the tyres didn’t break away but they were pretty scary bits all the same. Inside I was screaming.